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ENTERPRISE - High water in the Hay River has disrupted a search for fossils south of Enterprise.

A researcher and three colleagues from the University of Alberta visited the site from Aug. 15 to 19 to look for ichthyosaur fossils.

However, Erin Maxwell, a post-doctorate fellow at the university, said the river was high and covered the rocks she had hoped to examine.

"We decided to cut the trip shot because we ran out of things to look at," said Maxwell.

The trip had been scheduled for Aug. 14 to 24.

The fossil site was discovered in 1971 by a technician and graduate students from the university, but hadn't been investigated since then.

The fossils belong to the ichthyosaur and date from about 110 million years ago in the Cretaceous period.

The ichthyosaur, which was not actually a dinosaur, had a long snout, big eyes, dorsal fins, limbs with paddles at the end, and a tail with a big fin.

Maxwell is not sure if she will return for another attempt to look for fossils, noting such a trip requires funding and would have to be done during a dry summer.

"The conditions have to be very specific," she said.

Maxwell said she is not disappointed by the recent trip.

"It's not the ideal outcome," she said.

"We did learn something. That's always useful."

Maxwell noted the researchers found some unidentified fish fossils in blocks of rock pushed up the riverbank by ice.

The fish were about the size of minnows.

The researchers found hundreds of little pieces of fossils and four relatively complete fossils of the fish.